“ Give A Hoot, Don’t Pollute: It’s Foul to Hurt the Burrowing Owl ,” a project of the fifth grade class at Mount Madonna School (MMS) won First Place in the environmental Class Challenge at the Santa Cruz Earth Day celebration on April 21.
Yoli Cueponi , or “live to grow” in the language of Catalina Island’s original human inhabitants, the Pimungan people, is a sentiment dear to the minds and hearts of 9th grade students at Mount Madonna School (MMS). It is also the name the class has given to their upcoming marine science learning journey to the popular island located off the southern California coast.
By Ward ‘SN’ Mailliard
Values in World Thought Program
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Recently Mount Madonna School’s (MMS) second grade students attended three classes through the “Growing Kinder” Humane Education Program of the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter (SCCAS). The program is founded by Jen Walker, an experienced animal welfare advocate and humane education specialist. The first session began with Walker guiding the students on a behind-the-scenes tour at the animal shelter. For their next couple meetings, Walker offered lessons at MMS with her cat, Guido, and dog, Moon.
“It is very important to learn how to save our ecosystems,” comments fifth grader Jules Barivan. And for the past several months, the class has been doing just that – engaging in extensive research, public speaking, local habitat restoration and community outreach and education, all as part of their project “Give A Hoot: It’s Foul to Hurt the Burrowing Owl.”
Congratulations to inspired young scientists Lekha Duvvoori, Sara Bautista, and Addy Catterall-Pendleton, each of whom won awards in the recent Santa Cruz County Science Fair!
Sixth grader Lekha’s project, “I See What Eye See, Low Light Color Vision” won kudos and multiple awards in the Junior Division (6th-8th grade), including a nomination to the upcoming Broadcom MASTERS middle school science competition; and an invitation to participate the 61st annual California State Science Fair.
Congratulations to Mount Madonna School parent Cindi Busenhart, CEO of action wear retailer, Sessions, for being named one of the Silicon Valley’s 2012 Women of Influence by the San Jose Business Journal.
Busenhart, one of a 100 women from the private, public and nonprofit sectors to receive the honor, will be recognized at an awards ceremony on April 26 in San Jose.
Congratulations to Mount Madonna School alumni parent Amy Colton (Aaron, ’08 and Lindsey, ’11), recently named by Good Times magazine as one of six local change-makers!
“Right up front it was easy to see that Amy Colton was an unlikely champion to take on Sacramento and our broken health system to fight for an important cause having to do with women’s health,” comments Ward ‘SN’ Mailliard, Mount Madonna School Values in World Thought teacher and a longtime friend of Colton’s. “She did not like public speaking, or have any experience with politics, However the cause of making sure doctors who reviewed mammograms notified women that they have an additional risk factor for breast cancer was just too important for her to ignore. It was personal. Amy, a breast cancer survivor, became aware that her late diagnosis was due to the difficulty in spotting cancer in women who have dense breast tissue. Nobody seemed to care. The industry did not want to respond, so Amy, with no political experience, decided to get this issue noticed.”
For nonprofit organizations, determining how to creatively and successfully meet annual fundraising goals can be difficult and time-consuming – and frequently not a lot of fun. With the dual intent of putting the “fun” back in “fundraising” and bringing together other local nonprofit organizations – including, educational, environmental, and youth-focused groups – Mount Madonna School (MMS) is again hosting its annual community walk-a-thon and celebration –a family event intended to make fundraising as easy as a walk in the park!
All nonprofit organizations are invited to participate in the 6th annual Summit for the Planet Walk-a-thon on April 28. Mount Madonna will coordinate the event and do most all the work, while participating groups are invited to organize a team of walkers to walk for their organization, and their walkers, in turn, are urged to gather pledges of support.
Nine-year-old Lily Hernandez held up a deer antler as she listened to a presentation about the Ohlone people of long ago. Nearby, her friend AnMei Dasbach-Prisk examined a replica of an Ohlone arrow. The girls and their fourth grade class from Mount Madonna School were visiting Chitactac-Adams County Heritage Park in Gilroy to learn about California history and Native American culture. Chitactac-Adams Park is an authentic site of a former Ohlone village.
